Game Recaps

Mead, CV, University lead way in wrestling qualifiers

February 3, 2013By Mike Vlahovich, Correspondent

It was business as usual for traditional Greater Spokane League wrestling powers.

Mead and Central Valley outdistanced the District 8 4A field, with Mead’s Panthers piling up 395 points to the Bears’ 306. Both earned the lion’s share of the individual berths to next week’s regional meet at CV.

On the other side of the gymnasium at University Saturday, the host Titans scored 356.5 points, 100.5 more than runner-up Sunnyside at the 3A subregional. The top six per weight class qualified to next week’s regional in Sunnyside.

The top two finishers in the 4A district automatically qualified for next week’s eight-wrestler brackets and the third wrestles a “pigtail” match for inclusion against schools from the Mid Columbia and Big Nine conferences.

The 3A wrestlers join with the Wesco Conference. Five are seeded into the eight-man brackets, the sixth wrestling a pigtail match for a chance to fill the field.

The top four wrestlers per weight from each regional advance to state.

District 4A

Mead is sending 16 to the regional, including 12 finalists, seven of them champions. The Bears have 12 regional qualifiers, eight of them finalists with five champions.

But not lost during their night was the effort of Gonzaga Prep freshman 285-pound Ty Brooking.

In only his second year wrestling, Brooking beat fellow freshman Noah Buckley from Lewis and Clark 7-1 for the title.

It was, said Bullpups coach Danny Pearson their first district champion in at least five years.

“I started wrestling last year in a camp my school put on,” Brooking said. He credited his rapid improvement to several sources – “All those who picked on me to make me better.”

Prep had two other finalists in Casey Hornbeck and Cole Sebert, small, if encouraging, steps for the program when compared to the Panthers and Bears. The two schools hogged the district titles winning 12 out of 14 weight classes.

CV got the upper hand early winning head-to-head over Panthers in four of the first five matches: Carson Graham at 106 pounds, the Beard brothers, Bryson (113) and Blake (126), and Colton Orrino (132).

Mead broke up the run with Max Peterson at 120, then ran off five straight following Orrino’s victory, capped by Chandler Rogers’ tougher-than-expected win at 170. It took until the third round to pin LC’s Dakota Numbers.

“He’s so aggressive he keeps improving every time,” Rogers said. “He’s really strong and I couldn’t really muscle him, so started working on my feet.”

Five other Panthers titlists put them in good shape for regionals.

“CV has some high-end kids,” Panthers coach Phil McLean allowed. “I think our kids had a pretty good week. I think our league is going to be fine.”

3A sub-regional

Mt. Spokane wrestler Richie Bondurant had a middling season while wrestling at 132 pounds. In the sub-regional, however, he first shocked University’s top-seeded Rieley Smith 7-6, then held off North Central’s Jacob Clute 5-4 for the title.

“Before I just didn’t have confidence,” Bondurant said of his break-even regular season. “My coaches kept telling me all year they believed in me.”

Despite that loss, the Titans send 16 wrestlers, qualifying in all but two weight classes, to next week’s regional. Only one finished sixth. The rest are assured spots in the eight-wrestler fields.

Four Titans won titles. Qwest Osborn at 106 pounds edged Sunnyside’s Homer Romero 8-6. Austin Stannard at 170 eked out a 3-2 victory over Sisto Pina of Kamiakin. Tanner (195) and Tate Orndorff (285) were the other Titans champs.

“In the semifinals we didn’t have the greatest round in the world,” U-Hi coach Don Owen said. “But our kids rallied back. If we take a few lumps right now and learn from it, I can live with it.”

Overall, the GSL won 10 of the 14 finals, and in six instances the champion faced another league foe.